January 1st, 2012 we launched a new teaching series called “The Core.” Over the next few weeks we’ll be digging deep into the core values of Ekklesia. As many of you already know, whenever you see the word “church” in the Bible, it is a translation for the Greek word “ekklesia.” We’ve chosen to name our church “Ekklesia”, because our desire is to go back to the original teachings of Scripture and live them out, rather than merely following in the footsteps of our past church experiences. We’ve discovered the entire meaning of life can be summed up in 4 words: “Be disciples. Make disciples.” This year we want to “be” and “make” better than ever before! Check out our values listed below the video, and join us on Sundays for an exciting journey!!
Kingdom
Ekklesia exists for the King and His Kingdom (Revelation 19:16, Matthew 6:10, Luke 17:20-21), which is far larger than any local church. We believe our time, talents and resources are given to us so we can give to others. We even take joy in contributing frequently to causes that don’t directly increase the attendance of our church services (Luke 14:12-14). We regularly partner with a wide variety of churches and rejoice when people join their fellowships (John 17:20-23). It’s about His Kingdom, not ours!
Faith
Ekklesia walks by faith. With Christ we always achieve great things (John 15:5). Without Him we can do nothing (Ephesians 2:1-3). Jesus (and Jesus alone) has destroyed the power of sin. It is by faith in Him that we will live the radical, never-ending lives He has created us for (Ephesians 2:8-10, Colossians 1:15-20). Faith is the trust by which we enjoy the fullness of God’s impeccable leadership!
Pure Discipleship
Ekklesia is passionate about living like Jesus (1 John 2:6). Jesus is calling us to be His disciples (Matthew 28:18-20). Disciples seek to walk, talk, think, feel, and act like their master, and discipleship is not reserved for the select few (Matthew 5:1-7:29). It is the standard of every believer. Even when Jesus tells us to do things we don’t want to do (Luke 9:57-62), we enthusiastically trust that He knows exactly what we need!
Go
Ekklesia is made of people who risk boldly in order to go and rescue the lost (Luke 15:1-7). Jesus never said, “Go build a church building and then wait for people to come to you.” Moreover, our mission is far more than reaching our friends and families. Our mission is every tribe, tongue and nation (Acts 1:8, Revelation 7:9). We will go into our communities… and we will go to the ends of the earth to make disciples!
Crazy Love United
Ekklesia lavishes crazy love on every sinner who turns to follow Jesus (Luke 15:21-24), and even those who don’t (Mark 10:20-22, Matthew 5:43-47). We consider no human intrinsically better or worse than another. We follow Paul’s example: As far as we know, we are the worst sinners on the face of the earth (1 Timothy 1:15). We will live as a community united in love (Acts 2:42-47). Love is crazy. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:1-13)!
Power
Ekklesia is excited that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power (1 Corinthians 4:20). Miracles propel the mission (Acts 1:8). We seek God’s power frequently through prayer, fasting, confession, the reading of Scripture and gathering together (Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 6:16-18, James 5:16, Matthew 4:4, Hebrews 10:24-25). We eagerly desire to heal the sick, cast out demons, prophesy, interpret tongues, etc… (John 14:12) though we exercise all gifts by the order of the Spirit and in submission to God’s Word (1 Corinthians 14:26-33)!
About The Author
The message on Sunday was awesome. Most churches want to live out “discipleship” but have a patterned idea of what that looks like. I want to experience life with others who desire to “live out discipleship” in the truest sense of the word. It is risky to do that. We haven’t been taught to do this well, even though we may have had experiences in churches whereby a valiant attempt has been made to do so. This value is EXACTLY what we should be taught, we should LEARN to live out, and I look forward to Chris’s teachings on what our CORE is here at Ekklesia Church. Be disciples, make disciples! AWESOME!!
This is Jesus’ heart beat. He gave us a New Commandment, to (LOVE) one another as he has loved us. This is how “they will know we are his DISCIPLES.”
WOW!!! THIS IS THE HEART OF GOD
He’s not into building programs, he’s telling us the time is short and let’s get to work. Being Disciples and Making Disciples.
Many people have a distorted view of Christianity because they do not understand or know the very nature and person of the King (Jesus). When we follow and diligently study the King, and develop an intimate relationship with Him, we gain a clear understanding of His Kingdom and its core values. Confusion and misconceptions dissipate in the light of His absolute truth.
I believe that only when one is born again, can understand what the love of God truly means, and will do anything to do, be and love like Jesus. At least, when I was born again, and I understood the love of Christ, all I wanted to do is share it with all others and really wanted them to be happy and have what I have. There was all of a sudden a love that I felt for everyone. I just wanted to tell them about Jesus.
One of the most thought-provoking things about the video is the image of the disciple being weighed down by all the expectations of “church,” and being rendered unable to live the life that Jesus has given him. I wonder how much of that we do, just because we’re following a tradition of something we’ve done before, or doing something just because an influential person happens to like it, or because people grew up with it in their churches and they’re expecting it. How much do we stress ourselves and everyone around us out, in an effort to present a message of peace and freedom through Jesus, who said “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
What if we jettisoned everything that doesn’t relate to the core values, and freed each person up to use the gifts God has given him or her? I think that a lot of times, we want “both/and” when God is calling us to “either/or.”
Today’s message on Power, the power we have as disciple’s of Christ was amazing, awesome and challenging to us as it requires something of us. What do we do with the power we have been given? I struggle, have struggled with what this means in my life as a believer. It reminds us that we need to be consistently in the Word of God in order to be reminded (because, after all we are human and have a sinful nature and fall back into old patterns of behaving and thinking). We have to be reminded that we ALREADY have the power necessary to heal because Christ is in us. I know for me, fear has reigned in my life to the extent that it has held me back from living as Christ would have me to do. I am grateful to hear the message and be reminded. I have the POWER within me. Thanks Chris for reminding us!